Bullitt Lectures in History Highlight Untold Story of the Black Working Class and "A Fever in the Heartland"
release date: October 18, 2023
Join The Seattle Public Library for two upcoming A. Scott Bullitt Lectures in American History with exceptional authors. On Wednesday, Oct. 25, historian Blair LM Kelley will speak about “The Roots of the Black Working Class” at the Northwest African American Museum. On Thursday, Nov. 2, Seattle journalist and author Timothy Egan will discuss his book “A Fever in the Heartland” at the Central Library’s Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium.
Both events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Follow the event links below to register.
BLAIR LM KELLY: “THE ROOTS OF THE BLACK WORKING CLASS”
On Wednesday, Oct. 25, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., Blair LM Kelley, Ph.D., will speak on “The Roots of the Black Working Class” at the Northwest African American Museum, 2300 South Massachusetts St.
The title of the lecture is from Kelley’s book “Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class,” which illuminates the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America through a stunning narrative centered on the author’s forebears.
Spanning two hundred years ― from one of Kelley’s earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the COVID-19 pandemic ― “Black Folk” highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The church yards, factory floors, railcars, and postal sorting facilities where Black people worked were sites of possibility, and, as Kelley suggests, Amazon package processing centers, supermarkets, and nursing homes can be today. In this brilliant corrective, the acclaimed historian restores the Black working class to the center of the American story.
Kelley is the director of the Center for the Study of the American South and codirector of the Southern Futures initiative at the University of North Carolina. Her first book, “Right to Ride,” won the Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Prize.
Thanks to our event partner Northwest African American Museum. This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation, and media sponsor The Seattle Times.
TIMOTHY EGAN: “A FEVER IN THE HEARTLAND”
The second annual Bullitt lecture, featuring Seattle author Timothy Egan, will be held on Thursday, Nov. 2, from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at the Central Library’s Level 1 Microsoft Auditorium. Note that this event is currently full, but there will be a “standby line,” which will allow some last-minute entries based on availability.
In “A Fever in the Heartland,” Egan shares the riveting story of the Klan’s rise to power in the 1920s, the charismatic charlatan who drove that rise, and the woman whose deathbed testimony brought the Klan to their knees. “A Fever in the Heartland” marries a propulsive drama to a powerful reckoning with one of the darkest threads in American history.
Egan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and the author of 10 books. His book on the Dust Bowl, “The Worst Hard Time,” won a National Book Award for nonfiction, and his book on photographer Edward Curtis, “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher,” was awarded the Carnegie Medal for nonfiction.
Thanks to our partner Elliott Bay Book Company. This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation, and media sponsor The Seattle Times.
ABOUT THE A. SCOTT BULLITT LECTURE
The A. Scott Bullitt Lecture in American History is made possible by a generous gift from the late Priscilla Bullitt Collins in honor of her father, A. Scott Bullitt. The Bullitt Lectures are annual lectures that highlight a significant period, event or individual in American history, with an emphasis on inclusive stories of American history that might be less known.
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